Surface Structure Dependent Electrocatalytic Activity of Co3O4 Anchored on Graphene Sheets toward Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Catalytic activity is primarily a surface phenomenon, however, little is known about Co 3 O 4 nanocrystals in terms of the relationship between the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity and surface structure, especially when dispersed on a highly conducting support to improve the electr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2013-07, Vol.3 (1), p.2300, Article 2300
Main Authors: Xiao, Junwu, Kuang, Qin, Yang, Shihe, Xiao, Fei, Wang, Shuai, Guo, Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/299/886
639/301/357/551
639/638/204/675
639/925/357/404
Carbon dioxide
Catalysis
Catalysts
Chemical reduction
Cobalt
Cobalt - chemistry
Crystals
Electrical conductivity
Graphite
Graphite - chemistry
Humanities and Social Sciences
Ions
Models, Molecular
multidisciplinary
Nanoparticles - chemistry
Nanoparticles - ultrastructure
Oxidation
Oxidation-Reduction
Oxides - chemistry
Oxygen
Oxygen - chemistry
Science
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Summary:Catalytic activity is primarily a surface phenomenon, however, little is known about Co 3 O 4 nanocrystals in terms of the relationship between the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity and surface structure, especially when dispersed on a highly conducting support to improve the electrical conductivity and so to enhance the catalytic activity. Herein, we report a controllable synthesis of Co 3 O 4 nanorods (NR), nanocubes (NC) and nano-octahedrons (OC) with the different exposed nanocrystalline surfaces ({110}, {100} and {111}), uniformly anchored on graphene sheets, which has allowed us to investigate the effects of the surface structure on the ORR activity. Results show that the catalytically active sites for ORR should be the surface Co 2+ ions, whereas the surface Co 3+ ions catalyze CO oxidation and the catalytic ability is closely related to the density of the catalytically active sites. These results underscore the importance of morphological control in the design of highly efficient ORR catalysts.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep02300